Ohio Politics – todayspulse

Year: 2014

Jack Torry in our Washington Bureau is covering the announcement that Chuck Hagel is stepping down as secretary of Defense. Here’s Jack’s report which we will update throughout the day.

By Jack Torry

Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel resigned today after less than two years of directing the Pentagon, a move which had been anticipated during the past few weeks.

With Vice President Joe Biden and Hagel at his side at the White House, Obama announced Hagel would leave his post as soon as the Senate confirms his successor. It is unlikely the next nominee would be confirmed until January [More]

WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner charged that President Barack Obama “has chosen to deliberately sabotage” any chance that Congress will agree on a bipartisan package to overhaul the nation’s immigration system.

At a news conference Friday next to his Capitol Hill office, Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., pledged that the Republican-controlled House “will, in fact, act” in response to Obama’s decision Thursday to issue an executive order which would allow more than five million undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. for the next three years and to get a work permit.

State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, wants Ohio’s 1.8 million K-12 students to attend school 220 days a year.

Kearney introduced legislation Tuesday to boost the classroom days.

Lawmakers are expected to return to work after Election Day and push through key bills before the legislative session ends in late December. It is unlikely that bills introduced this late in the cycle by minority party members will be enacted.

Ohio recently switched the school schedule to be based on total hours instead of days.

West Chester Twp. firefighter paramedic Jeffrey Moore was appointed to the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund board of trustees Oct. 28, filling a vacancy created with David Witner retired.

Moore is expected to serve until spring 2015 when he’ll be eligible to run for a full four-year term.

Moore has served as the president of the West Chester Professional Fire Fighters Local 3518. He lives in Hamilton.

The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, created in 1965, has 54,000 active and retired beneficiaries and $14.5 billion in its investment portfolio. It is one of five statewide public employee pension systems in Ohio.

Ohio State University hired John C. Lane as its new chief investment officer overseeing the university’s $3.4 billion portfolio. Lane has been serving as investments director at the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System since 2010. At OPERS, Lane oversees an $89 billion fund and 58 investment professionals.

Lane’s appointment is expected to be confirmed Oct. 29 by the OSU Board of Trustees. He will replace Jonathan Hook, who resigned in May.

“Consumer Courage: The Big Book of Ohio Consumer Rights” is everything you might want to know about the state’s consumer protection laws. The new 120-page guidebook, published by the NHS Consumer Law Center in Cleveland, outlines the laws in place designed to protect Ohio consumers against rip offs and scams.

The book leaves out legal jargon and instead explains the laws for the lay person.

Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, calls it an “easy to read book that every Ohio consumer should own and read, whether they’re making a big purchase, using credit or being harassed [More]

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, assailed former IRS official Lois Lerner today for agreeing to be interviewed by Politico.com even though she has invoked her Fifth Amendment rights in declining to answer questions before congressional investigators. Lerner, head of the IRS division dealing with tax-exempt organizations, has been accused of targeting conservative non-profits seeking tax-exempt status. The IRS dismissed her after she refused to testify before a House panel investigating the charges. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lerner told Politico. “I’m proud of my career and the job I did for this country.” The Politico interview was the first time [More]